Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

Today

September 11

September 11 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by 2 verified records spanning 103 BC to AD 431. Together, the entries below connect this calendar date with different moments in the ancient Greek world through historical and documentary evidence.

Across the centuries

On This Day

  1. 103 BC

    Life on This Day

    Pathyris, Upper Egypt, Ptolemaic kingdom Society & Daily Life High

    Brothers Receive 1¾ Arouras of Land in Pathyris

    On September 11, 103 BC, a Greek document recorded the transfer of 1¾ arouras of land in the plain of Pathyris to Peteharsemtheus and his brothers. The record also refers to an associated Demotic contract concerning the land sale. The document captures the bilingual legal world of Ptolemaic Egypt and the practical mechanics of family landholding.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • P.Grenf. II 25 = TM 69

    Modern scholarship

    • British Library catalogue record for Papyrus 659

    Public links

  2. AD 431

    Event That Shaped History

    Chalcedon, opposite Constantinople Religion Reconstructed

    Theodosius II Arrives at Chalcedon to Hear the Rival Ephesus Delegations

    On the date conventionally reconstructed as September 11, AD 431, Emperor Theodosius II, his court and the senate arrived at Chalcedon as rival delegations from the Council of Ephesus sought an imperial hearing. The confrontation followed the council’s deep divisions over the status of Nestorius and the authority of competing episcopal factions. The date marks an important stage in the imperial effort to manage a church dispute that had become a political crisis.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Antiochene conciliar correspondence dated 11 Gorpieus

    Modern scholarship

    • Modern study of the Council of Ephesus and Theodosius II's intervention

    Public links